In his 2023 report, the U.S. Surgeon General reported that millions of Americans are lonely, not just at home, but also at work—and this continues to be an ongoing issue. While this trend began before the pandemic isolated millions of individuals from their families and friends, these feelings of loneliness have only increased since. As one’s work makes up a significant part of a person’s life, finding ways to seek connection with co-workers and build a sense of belonging and camaraderie is key to addressing this ongoing problem.
So how can employers help? Here to share their insights, 10 business leaders from Young Entrepreneur Council weigh in on what employers can do to ensure their teams feel connected and supported at work, and discuss why doing so is so important for everyone’s well-being.
1. Coordinate Regular Cross-Department Meetings
Some employees may feel lonely working with the same team members day in and day out. However, you can create more opportunities for discussion and collaboration by scheduling cross-department meetings where folks who might not normally work together can have the opportunity to interact more often. That can help keep the workplace dynamic and open up more room for creativity, ideas and innovation. – Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep Mattress
2. Encourage Employees To Celebrate Each Other
Epicenter Innovation has been a remote company since its inception 10 years ago. We use a variety of tools and processes to ensure that there are a number of touch points for our staff throughout the week. One of my favorite things that we implemented about six months ago was a Slack automation that we call “Weekly Kudos.” This automation fires off at the same time each week, and every member of the team is encouraged to shout out one of their colleagues for a job well done. It makes everyone feel noticed and appreciated. – Christopher Tarantino, Epicenter Innovation
3. Reconfigure Your Office’s Environment
One way to ensure that your teams feel a sense of belonging at work is to get rid of all the cubicles and introduce workstations. Cubicles at work are often perceived as productivity boosters as they help minimize distractions and enable employees to stay focused at work. But on the flip side, cubicles seclude their occupants and may lead to minimal interaction among employees—and that may lead to poor coordination among the teams. At workstations, however, your employees share the same area, which may help you ensure better coordination and promote camaraderie at work. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
4. Introduce ‘Bring Your Pet To Work’ Days
You cannot force people to be social at work or in their personal lives. One thing that can make a difference, though, is bringing animals to work. You do not have to have an “open doggy door policy,” if you will, but what does help is having employees bring their special pet to the office to meet teammates. This can also work with children. It places you outside of the realm of strict office politics and work life. You get to know someone through an extension of themselves, who is their day-to-day companion or responsibility. It is so powerful to make this connection to a co-worker and should not be overlooked. – Matthew Capala, Alphametic
5. Form Small Interest-Focused Groups
In our company, we have people from across teams who’ve started book clubs, fitness challenges and other similar groups. This brings people together over shared interests in casual ways. The best part is that when employees take the initiative to start these things, they’re more invested and more likely to volunteer. They’ll also bond over self-chosen interests, which bring together like-minded people. As a result, at least a part of the company starts to feel less lonely without being pressured to socialize if they don’t want to. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner
6. Start A ‘Video Chat Chain’
If you have a strong culture, loneliness will likely never be a problem. One way we ensure we have a strong culture and communication across all our locations is by having the occasional “video chat chain.” The way it works is that a person from location A schedules a five-minute video chat with a person from location B who’s in a different department. Then, the individual from location B does the same to a person in location C and so on until everyone has had a five-minute video chat. Small nudges for people to meet and chat with each other internally has helped us build a strong foundation for a great culture companywide. – Jeff Cayley, KETL Mtn. Apparel
7. Use Games And Fun Questions To Open Up
Our company is fully remote and, if we’re not careful, it’s easy to start to feel lonely when you’re at home by yourself working. One solution we’ve found is to bring in different virtual games, ask questions to get people to share and open up personally, and be present for meetings and daily Slack updates. When we feel comfortable enough to share the personal side of things with our team, it helps them do the same. It’s also a great way to forge relationships beyond the work itself, which makes it easier to collaborate as well. Having a company value in place that focuses on the people is also very important. For example, one of our company values is to “be an ally,” and that means we focus on helping each other and being on the same team in more ways than one. – Nathalie Lussier, AccessAlly
8. Schedule Special Social Events
Schedule socializing time. For example, you could try an outdoor cookout party and play some games everyone can join (like icebreaker bingo). Once a year, I host an online Christmas party so that both my remote and on-site employees can get to know each other. I buy everyone pizza, we play lots of games and we have a prize drawing at the end. It’s a family event so that we can all just relax and have fun. I find that scheduling time to socialize gives employees a chance to open up outside of company projects, which in turn helps boost camaraderie and team building. – Shu Saito, SpiroPure
9. Create Fun Company Chat Channels
Employers can make their workplace more social by adding fun channels to the company chat. For example, we have a family chat where co-workers can talk about movies, share pictures of their pets and just hang out and get to know each other. We’ve had a lot of luck with this addition, and I highly recommend it for leaders who are worried about their teams feeling isolated at work. – John Turner, SeedProd LLC
10. Make Sure You’re Checking In
Over the past few years, where and how people work has changed a lot. While many workers prefer the option of remote work, it has definitely brought about new challenges like loneliness. Staring at a screen all day with a seemingly endless routine can not only be boring, but it can also lead to feelings of burnout and disconnection. It can help to set up regular check-ins with your team. It’s impossible to build a strong relationship with them if you never talk. Use these check-ins to give positive feedback, answer any questions and offer the opportunity for them to give suggestions of their own. You can also start silly traditions just to add some fun. For example, use funny filters during Friday meetings. Something as small as that can add some lighthearted fun and end the week on a good note. – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
